Digital Remedy
by HellsingDMC
Summary: Markiplier's got himself trapped inside of a video game; I guess he did it this time, huh? Luckily one of his fans knows how to get in and out without being affected too much by the game's altering changes. With the help of her roommate in the real world can she save some of the Let's Players from entering this strange domain, or will they all be trapped inside for all eternity?
1. Mark's done did it this time, guys

**(Becca's POV.)**

"Hello everybody, my name's Markiplier and welcome to whatever the Hell this horror game is!" He grins like an idiot at the camera, sitting in his recording room, in a different country, and probably working on something else right now as we speak. I can't help but force out a small, tiny smile; the way he acts like himself just seals the deal on his playful personality, he's truly one of the nicest people on this planet that I've ever met. Plus he just has that effect sometimes, being charming and all.

The video buffers a tiny bit, gotta love sharing WiFi with your neighbor. Before you assume the worst; it's _our _network, the poor guy next door just so happens to be one of our Jr. High friends who can't afford to pay an internet bill right now. As long as he doesn't run cords from our router into his apartment; we shouldn't have any problems…

"I bought it a while back because a few of you mentioned it to me in the comments and-"

In the video, he cuts himself off a little while looking down beside him with a really confused expression on his face, pulling out a PS4 game case that has no title whatsoever, and it's just a mixture of black, grey and white on the so called cover page, while showing it to the camera that he has facing towards him.

"Well that was weird; it had a title when I bought it... Hell if I remember what it was called."

My eyes widen while they're glued to the screen in front of me, the game is bad news for anyone who isn't used to the thrill of horror and gore; up close and personal. My black cat gazes up at me from the bed that's beside my chair with his annoyed golden eyes.

My cat's not natural, anyone who meets him reminds me constantly at how remarkably huge he is for an indoor cat. He's massive but it's mostly fluff and muscle, this cat has no ounce of fat on him and his fur's at least four inches long and twice as thick. I also had people tell me that his age is unusual as well; my dad got him in '89 way before he even knew who my mother was. Needless to say, this bastard has had a lot of names in his life, and he's permanently and legally stuck with the most ridiculous one of them all.

_Dammit Mark, I messaged you to warn you about not playing that game; it's completely fucked up. Why didn't you listen to me?_

As for me and Mark, usually we message each other a lot; awhile back we've become good friends during one of his older livestreams; the first 24 hour one he did to be exact. I kept saying things that made him laugh when he was getting clearly irritated and tired, and ever since he started doing livestreams more often; mind you they were less severe than 24 hours, and I never missed a single one since. I guess a couple months ago he messaged me on Twitch; giving me one of his numbers so we could keep in touch. Things were different back then before his channel exploded with numbers upon numbers of people, and honestly I miss those quiet days sometimes.

"Whatever this thing is, it looks; fun...?" He finishes his sentence by looking at the camera again with a questioning expression. He slowly puts the case down on the floor beside him giving it one last look while shivering a little.

"I got a weird feeling about this one tingling in my... - Never mind; family-friendly show! At least I'm trying to…" His adorable, goofy smile is contagious even through a computer screen. He's clearly nervous about this game; but also excited at the same time like any other Let's Player I know.

I sigh deeply, my heart does hurt a little knowing exactly what's going to happen to him. Strange things happen in that game and I should know; I own a copy. I glance down at my phone that's lying face down on my desk beside my keyboard, I guess that explains why I haven't heard back from him lately; usually he replies within a couple hours but it's been almost a day.

"You're a damn fool for buying it." I mutter to myself, sitting alone in my room staring at the screen in front of me. Even though he's an idiot, he's a lovable one at most.

"Anywho! Let's begin, shall we?" He stares seductively at the camera in front of him, winking before he glances down and picks up his controller while making faces at his audience like he always does when he waits for the loading screen.

My head hits my computer desk; I can't believe he's actually going to play it. Playing this game is a death sentence; who the Hell would suggest this damn thing to anyone, and _how _the Hell did he get a hold of it? To be fair, I got mine from an old used video game store in a flea market; I never questioned why there was only one PS4 game among millions of old Nintendo, Playstation, and everything in between stock; until I started to play it.

_Mark…_

I sigh again, he already sold his soul to the devil at this point, and all I can do is sit and watch and hope that he bought a fake copy. I don't even know if there are fake copies floating around to be honest; but for his sake I hope his doesn't work.

"Uhhhh… Ooookay?" His eyes squint at the screen while it stays black like it has been for the past minute; making a very confused face once again he begins pressing buttons on his control, mumbling unrecognizable noises of distress.

"Well I broke the game everybody, surprise, surprise!" He sarcastically claps for himself ranting about how every game he enjoys always somehow ends up breaking on him several times.

_Huh, maybe he did get a fake copy if it's not loading right now._

I breathe easily, relaxing my body and sitting up straight a little while lifting my head from the desk, smiling and feeling a little bit more relaxed than what I was when I saw the beginning of this video.

Almost instantly, he gets all happy again. Babbling on about how he was looking forward to the game, and basically bullshitting the fact that he wanted to play it when in reality, he probably had some inner common sense telling him not to even turn it on. He was relieved that the game didn't work, and he has no idea how happy _I_ am at this point.

"It appears that-" He began in his casual voice, cutting himself off from the sudden motion in his computer screen while it grows a little bit brighter each second. His camera catches his reaction; it's crossed between _'ah shit'_ and _'what's going on?'_

"What was that?" He gets a little more scared, leaning forward towards the screen instead of leaning backwards like he usually does when something terrifies him on the screen as it slowly fades from black into grey in a matter of several seconds.

Shit…

He looks behind him and then back at his monitor again, giving the illusion that he's not alone. "Is that supposed to happen...?" He questions as if he's talking to someone else that's behind him.

Just as he looks back towards the camera, the grey light turns into a white light that completely blinds everyone watching this video. You can even see the blinding affect on his camera and the white shining light that leaps off of his monitor too. I already know what happens next, and I wish he listened to me the second he texted me telling me about this awesome 'game.' Too bad what he didn't know is that it's awesome alright; if you live through it.

_You're kidding me, right? The one time I wished it was a fake._

I automatically jump up from my computer chair, clenching the edge of the desk within my grasp while I watch the bright, blinding light engulf his screen for a good thirty seconds; both on the camera and in the actual game. The audio is completely silent as well; he's getting clever at hiding his tracks whenever he brings in people to his domain, that's for sure.

My jaw drops, I knew it wouldn't be a fake; I've never heard of any fakes made just yet, I don't even think people who know about this game make it out alive so they can't even _make_ a fake copy; not to sound all high and mighty here, but I jump in all the time. It could be because of my overly attached addiction to horror and gore giving me a chance at survival… Glancing down to my right, I notice my copy of the game except half of the title is visible instead of what Mark's was. The words are scratched out in blood, and I can't even make anything out of it.

_Okay, when did he post this? I might be too late already. This isn't good..._

Panic settles in, not only does this game kill its victims, but once you've found a loophole it gets even more difficult because the game itself _knows_ what you do, and _wants_ you to die. Eventually the screen returns back to normal, except for where Mark usually sits, there's nothing but his headset cord laying across the back of his massive computer chair. A few seconds after that, the video stops right there; no outro or anything, it just cuts off so suddenly; leaving the rest of his audience confused and left in the dark.

Hastily I scroll down a little on the video, checking the time it was posted. Some of the comments catch my eye, they think it's one of his stupid jokes again like that horror cat video he posted a while back, but I know better than that; this one's real.

_At least it was only posted a couple hours ago, I still have some time. Dammit Mark, I hope you've learned your lesson by now._

Quickly, I grab a piece of paper and a pencil, scribbling down a small note for my roommate to read when she comes back from her late afternoon class, letting her know it's probably going to be a while before I ever return here again.

She knows about this game already, and the whole drill thing we have. The last thing we need is all of the YouTubers playing this as well, because once you die in there; you don't spawn back. And if you do die in here, you turn into one of _them_. Hopefully she can convince other people to stay away from it while I'm gone.

My soft, sleek black cat meows at me again, uncurling himself from his little ball position and stretching out his paws, jumping down from my bed with his golden yellow eyes widening a little, as if he knows I'm going in there and he doesn't want me to anymore.

"Don't worry baby, I'll be back soon; I promise." I smile a tiny bit, bending down and scratching behind his ears to assure him, he purrs wildly, rubbing his long body against my legs as a sad farewell.

He hates people, he always has. Anyone who even tries to touch him will cause him to freak out and either attacks them or he trips them when they try to walk. Nobody knows why, my parents took care of him and didn't abuse him; none of us did at all, he just always acted out against anything and everything. Oddly enough he loves me to death. I'm glad I could convince my control freak of a mother to take him with me when I moved out; considering she was hell-bent on this cat loving her as it tries to claw her eyes out in the process.

I stand straight up again, gripping my PS4 controller tightly in my hand, while I face my plasma screen TV that's in the other corner of my room; clicking the power on while I wait for the screen to fade into white just like it did on Mark's.

Every instinct in my body is telling me to run, turn off the game, leave him in there to fend for himself, and don't look back. My body always sends those same signals to my brain every time I do this, except this time I have a reason to go in. I'm not letting him end up like the other people I ran into in there over the years.

This game evolves, I've had it for a long time; it's just not for the PS4. I started out having it when I got my first computer; ancient as fuck and it came with the CD. You can't destroy it, it will find a way back one way or another; believe me, I've tried.

I take a deep breath, I've watched too many people suffer enough, the memories of their screams, deaths, and the monsters formed in the shadows and of the hollowed out carcasses… And now Mark's going to join them…? I don't think so. I couldn't help the others, I didn't even know _what_ to do I was younger than I am now; I think I was around ten when this started, I'm not sure I just lost count after breaking endless cartridges and Cds. There's only one way to bring him out alive; and that's going in to retrieve him in one piece, hopefully he's still intact by now; I'd be pretty disappointed in him if he's dead already.

_I hope this works._


	2. Why did it have to be Mannequins

_**(Mark's POV.)**_

My conscious is completely silent, which is a first; usually someone's_ always _talking. My ears ring a little drowning out whatever voices I have left inside my head as well, the only thing I remember was the bone chilling white light and now all of a sudden I'm surrounded by darkness once again. I should have listened to her; unless this is all a dream and I blacked out suddenly.

_~ Wake up, you pathetic idiot. ~_

My eyes open very slowly, trying to register just what in the Hell happened while my body barely responds to any type of movement I try to force myself to do. Was I drugged by someone? It sure feels like I was.

"What did I get myself into this time…?" I hold my head squinting in pain while I pry myself off of the cold, concrete floor in a small tiny room. There's nothing in here but a tiny desk with some helpful objects lying on top of it. The windows have bars on them but as far as I can tell the windows aren't working properly either. The room is very frigid and icy almost, and the solid, metal door that's behind me seems to be the only way out. There's a flickering light bulb above my head attached to the ceiling, by the looks of it; it'll give out at any moment and the smell; don't even get me started about the smell.

_I think I had my phone in my pocket; maybe I can check the time and hopefully find a signal._

My hand reaches inside my pocket, pulling out my phone while I notice a few texts from her, _'Mark I'm serious don't play that game.', 'Please listen to me!'_, _'You're a damn idiot if you're going to go through with playing it. -_-_' And so on. The timestamps all say 'unknown' and the clock on my lock screen just flashes red colored pixilated question marks while the screen is all 8-bit like it was drained of its high definition quality, my senses are also telling me that this may or may not be a dream after all.

_I couldn't reply, I was already recording the playthrough by that time. I hope she isn't concerned, even though I should be._

Is this real, or a figment of my imagination? At this point I can't even tell; these texts seem to be all too real, and I remember that light… Maybe I should have said something, or listened to her even.

_~ Say something you vile imp! Are you even paying attention to me? ~_

"When do I_ not_ pay attention to you?" Without thinking I open my mouth, seriously; that's all he does is run his mouth, I never get a break from it and I can't quite escape it as well. I start pacing around the cold room before I decide it would probably be a smart idea to take the flashlight and the notebook that's on the table with me; I'm pretty sure it's important and I wouldn't want to leave those behind; I've made enough mistakes in previous horror games to know how_ that_ works out.

_~ Shut up you impatient swine. You are nothing but a scared little boy trapped in a world full of horrors. ~_

"Rude." I mumble, the voice stops for now; maybe I'll be able to have some quiet time with him not here to poke through every single thought and memory I own. He can be annoying sometimes, but I know he doesn't mean harm; despite how harsh he can get.

The room seems to be getting smaller and smaller in my mind as time passes by, I hover over the table, glancing at the small notebook wondering if I should even attempt to open it, would I even be prepared for what I found inside? Carefully, I reach out towards the book, feeling an intense amount of heat coming from it almost like its living. The second my fingers touch its surface they begin to tingle with a warm sensation. Being desperate for heat since it's freezing in here, I pick it up. The second it's in my hand; it burns with a searing vengeance, causing me to fling it against the desk. Watching in awe as it randomly flips to a page inside, revealing some dark, scratchy handwriting.

"Instead of burning me you could have asked nicely." I whimper a little under my breath, the notebook flails about on the table for a few seconds; I guess it heard what I said.

_**Welcome to my domain. There is no one here that will save you now. **_

The ink used looks like it could have been made from charred flesh. I've never saw anything this darkly written in general; it's like he crushed up forty packs of charcoal just to write one sentence, what a waste of time and money if you ask me.

"Well _that's _friendly." I mutter to myself, reaching for the notebook once again to flip through the rest of the pages to see if there's anything else that can be more useful than these silly words. Maybe I should take a break from horror games when I wake up; _if _I wake up.

The second my fingertips touch the page, the searing pain pierces right though to my bones again, I flinch back automatically, and dropping the notebook back onto the desk as it flips over to a new page. It's unreadable as if someone smudged the black ink all over the page, clearly its irritated.

"Great, wonderful. That's just what I need right now." I stare at the ink smudge before glancing around the room to see if I can find anything to dab it with, giving up on not being able to find anything in this empty useless room, I just stare back at the smudge; wondering if it'll clear up by itself or something. Note to self; don't rush the notebook.

_~ Are you fucking stupid? ~_

"Maybe I am." I sarcastically reply, the voice sighs deeply while mumbling some words under his breath. I return my focus to the notebook with a slight confused gaze, wondering how in the Hell can something like this even be possible; unless I'm dreaming which I'm beginning to think I am, despite my senses telling me otherwise.

_~ Patience you damn fool. ~_

"Shut up, me."

The ink smudge slowly begins to crawl away on the crisp, yellow stained page, as if it was something straight out of Hogwarts. It retreats inside the book crease and leaving some legible handwriting behind.

_**Do not rush me. I will reveal the answers you seek as you progress into your own, pending damnation. **_

"Ooookay…? Mr. Spooky Book Thingy." This 'dream' or whatever gets a little weirder every time I question its logic; maybe I should stop and just let the book finish talking from now on; as strange as that sounds to me.

Without any warning, the metal door behind me begins to pound violently; shaking against the entire room and rattling the ceiling, along with a horrible grinding noise that sounds like metal on metal. The notebook instantly closes without flipping to any pages at all, leaving me alone in the dark as the light begins to flicker even more.

My eyes widen in fear, my head is silent, no voices or words can be heard in this concrete room over the grinding noise. There's clearly nowhere to hide; no corners, or lockers, there's a desk but come on; everybody always checks under the desk first!

"You said you would help me!?" I whine, grabbing the stubborn notebook anyways, this time it doesn't burn my hands. It'll probably be useful in other situations; other than this dilemma. I have no clue where to hide, or if I can hide, the only thing buzzing through my head is that I _need _to hide.

_~ Get under the table, moron. ~_

I don't question it; the voice has never lied to me before so why would he start now? I crawl under the wooden table that has a wooden wall two inches from the cold ground facing the doorway. Squeezing myself under as tightly as I can, the metal door breaks loose from its hinges and collapses to the cold, concrete floor with a loud ear splitting noise, causing me to cringe immensely.

_~ Don't speak, don't blink, and don't move a muscle. ~_

My heart panics, I can't even think straight, I couldn't really before but now; oh boy, _now_ I just can't even function. I can feel my skin crawl like spiders underneath my flesh as the footsteps grow closer and closer towards the desk, frantic whispering voices can be heard scurrying around the room, '_Where is he?_' , '_He has to be here._', '_That damn girl_.', '_Where is he?_' The whispers grow angrier each time they repeat themselves, slamming what sounds to be fiberglass against the concrete walls in frustration.

_What the Hell are they, and why do they want me? I can't resist the temptation to take a peek... It wouldn't hurt, would it?_

Once again, the warnings go off inside my head, but once my curiosity settles in; sorry, not sorry. Carefully, I shift my weight around underneath the desk without making any noise at all, the whispering doesn't stop and probably never will; it only gets angrier with each passing second out of frustration.

I glance over the side of the wooden desk looking around the back of the room; noticing a few pure white store-like mannequins with metal joints connecting their limbs together, flailing about the room in confusion with none of them facing towards me.

I can just feel my entire body shutting down; it takes every ounce of self control I have to not scream like a little girl and draw attention to myself, Holy shit; why are you alive and walking by yourself? I knew it; I knew there was something weird going on with those faceless freaks in the store!

_Mannequins!? Of all the other things that could have possibly broken down that door, why does it have to be mannequins!?_

_~ Idiot. Don't blink. ~_

A lump forms in the back of my throat, why's he saying that now? I can't see any of them focusing on me; all of their backs are turned towards me while they search the empty corners. I can feel the pressure from my heart pounding so fast ready to explode at any given minute; I just know I fucked up this time.

Carefully I move back to where I was, pulling away from the edge and sitting in the middle underneath the desk curled up with wide eyes and a fear of dropping dead from a heart attack while my heart rapidly pounds inside my chest. Surely they can't hear it, they have no ears. Why can't I calm down? Oh yeah, that's right; _THERE'S FUCKING MANNEQUINS RIGHT THERE LOOKING FOR ME!_

_Okay Mark, think. How exactly can you escape this? Can you even escape this…._

Without thinking, I close my eyes and place my hand on my forehead to wipe away the sweat that's building up on my face. The second I remove my hand and open my eyes; I'm greeted with a mannequin body kneeling down beside the desk with his blank white face inches from mine while the rest of them stand huddled around him staring at me with their clean white faces. The whispers then begin to start up again, '_Finally._' They all chant together in whispers.

_~ You blinked. ~_


	3. That cat is fucking weird

_**(Sasha's POV.)**_

_I can't wait to relax and not do any shit for the rest of the weekend; my classes are cancelled for tomorrow so in other words I get a day to do nothing._

My smile grows wider; I can't wait to rub it in Becca's face when I see her inside considering she's been complaining about never getting a break in between assignments all week. I almost feel bad for her sometimes; mainly all of the female teachers hate her and it reflects in her grades with them, because the male ones are chasing after her. I find it disgusting; and the way how she deals with that is not showing up for the entire week.

I reach for my keys in my pocket, opening the door to our apartment slowly. She took that damn thing from her house and brought it with her and I swear it tries to kill me. The door gradually creaks open with an eerie atmosphere lingering around the tiny house; I notice all of the lights off and her bedroom door wide open, which is strange for her because it's usually closed most of the time.

_That's really weird; she's usually here before me._

"Bec?" I holler, slamming the door behind me while locking it as I walk down the narrow, dark hallway towards our living room. I peek inside her room along the way, noticing her TV is completely white, and her computer's web page is left open on one of Markiplier's videos that are still there, while her phone's facing down, vibrating against the wooden desk. Probably from all of the messages I've sent here in the past couple hours, or people trying to get a hold of her.

_Don't tell me he did what I think he did…And then her right after him…_

I clue in quickly; the TV always goes blank whenever she jumps into that fucking game and the comments on Markiplier's video all relate to the event that must have happened. I was there when she first showed it to me, at first it was on a PS3 disc, but she promptly smashed it to bits in an attempt to get it to leave, and within a matter of months; it made its way back to her again scaring the shit out of both of us. She told me it's been happening ever since she was around ten, and I believe it. For some reason it wouldn't let me enter but she kept entering and eventually I barely see her around. She uses it as an escape mechanism to avoid all of this shit and the people who constantly try to talk to her, I've never met someone so introverted in my life; and that's coming from me. She doesn't get hurt when she goes in; at least I don't think she does considering she comes back without a scratch.

I glance down at the open case that's lying on the floor beside the computer chair, that thing is messed up; whoever invented it must be sick in the head. I don't even know the full story, she refuses to tell me, let alone anyone else and I won't pry because that thing's fucking terrifying. Plus she told me I was better off not knowing in fear that whatever's inside of that game will come out into the real world.

_Usually she leaves a note explaining herself when she disappears like this, I wonder if there's one in here._

Quickly I rummage around her desk, I know she left a note explaining herself; she usually does before she enters the realm of 'what the fuckery' so that way I'll know to tell her parents and everyone else "yeah sorry, she got eaten by a video game." That'll go_ real_ well.

My eyes catch a glimpse of a piece of folded paper tucked away under her keyboard, maybe that's what I'm looking for? Usually she keeps her desk clean, and so far there are only sketches, and her laptop next to her monitor.

_Found it! I think..._

Intrigued, I move the keyboard picking up the note, opening it with less shocked expression that I imagined I'd have on my face; mainly because the video that she left open gives me a good explanation on what happened. At least she left a note, that's a good thing to do when your video game is evil.

'_Yeah so, Mark's got himself trapped in the game… I guess some people are recommending this to the YouTubers now. Be a dear and try to figure out what the fuck's going on for me will you? Don't forget to feed Muffins; I'll be back! Eventually… _**'**

I can't help but grin a little, that damn cat's name always cracks me up. It's fucking _evil_, he's always not around, he's always vanishing whenever she isn't here, but she second she's back he's all lovable and sucks up to her. I hate that cat so much… Reminds me of a Skinwalker to be honest.

_You fucking idiot. How will I know how you're doing this time; I can't jump in and save you!_

For some reason the game won't let me enter, I've tried several times and it just doesn't affect me at all. I sigh turning around, leaving her room while shutting the door behind me only to be greeted by the black demon himself; Muffins.

I swear the apartment got colder the second his eyes lock onto mine. He sits down on the floor, not breaking eye contact with me at all, or even flicking his massive fluffy tail like he usually does. This thing's pure black, both inside _and_ out.

The hatred he has for me burns inside of his golden, devilish eyes. I'm not afraid of most things, but this cat scares the complete shit out of me.

"What the _Hell_ do you want?" I mutter, standing there in the hallway, in case he tries to attack my legs like he usually does when I walk past him. I get that she loves him to death and he puts up with her, but _why_ did you have to bring him with us?

He narrows his golden eyes at me with a sassy attitude, puffing out his fluffy tail, standing back up and turning his back to me, walking off towards the couch with a weird, quiet-like spring in his step as if he's up to something.

"Freaky bastard..." I mutter to myself, a deep, angry grumble emerges from the belly of the beast itself as if he heard what I had just said.

_You're really creepy..._

I drop my bag to the floor in the living room beside the couch and the boxes of stuff we haven't unpacked yet, walking towards the kitchen and glancing at the clock that's on the stove.

_It's only 7; I have a couple hours to kill..._

Opening the cupboard, I reach in and pull out a box of chocolate, sampling a few of the delicious bites of joy before I start to head into my bedroom that's beside hers. I can't shake the feeling that something's behind me, it's probably that damn cat again but still, it's heavy and dark almost.

_I can feel that damn cat stalking me in the darkness, he wears a bell around his neck but I swear it never rings whenever he takes a step. _

She bought around several bells and attached them to his collar so that way we know where he is because of that, and despite how many bells we add, the quieter he can make them. It's fucked up and just plain creepy.

A tiny jingle emits from the darkened living room, confusing me greatly considering he never rings his bells at all. The sound then jingled again; this time it's closer. I shut the door behind me quickly, that cat is a whole new definition of weird and I'm _so_ not waiting around for it to rip my throat out.

I take a moment to catch my breath; I might have to sleep with one eye open tonight if he doesn't stop following me, I'm just glad he doesn't have opposable thumbs.

I glance around my half empty room, all I have set up so far is the bed and my shitty laptop; everything else is in boxes since I have no time to unpack between classes and homework. I spot my laptop buried under my clothes on the floor, quickly I move them off of it; opening the screen and searching for my wireless mouse among the pile of clothes on my floor.

_Okay, she mentioned the other YouTubers, since she's not here I'm gonna have to do something; but what?_

I spot the red bastard hiding under the edge of my bed, I reach over for it, shaking the mouse a little on my laptop, waking it up from its sleep mode while picking the laptop up and gently moving towards my bed that's in the corner.

The apartment is completely silent, there's not even a faint sound emitting from the TV in Becca's room. Its nights like this that make me second guess moving out so early, especially with all of this freaky shit happening.

The still fresh air outside turn's cold very quickly without any warning at all, forcing me to get up off of my bed and to close the window. I groan in protest, I was just getting comfy too.

_Huh, that's weird._

I stop instantly, peering over the ledge of my window and looking down to the ground below, nothing really unusual here; people walking about the sidewalk, cars driving past without a care in the world, until I see a small river that shouldn't be there at all; and the people walking through it don't seem to be affected one bit.

_What the actual fuck?_

I rub my eyes, looking down again and noticing that the river is now reflecting an image of someone chained up tightly and floating underwater with a mess of long brown hair, I know it's not Becca because it's too straight to be hers.

Peeling my eyes away from the image, I shut the thick curtains quickly and scurry back onto my bed, what the _Hell _is going on here? I've never seen something like that before; and I _know _it wasn't my eyes playing tricks on me.

I return my gaze back to my laptop, staring at my blank screen for a long time, I've tried Googling the game once and I got nothing on it; so that means that everyone who knows about it probably died trying to find a way out…

The sound of the wind rasping against the window with a deadly vibe to it begins to fester around outside grabbing my attention rather quickly; it was such a nice calm, late afternoon too. Plus we weren't supposed to get a storm tonight… The sun sets slowly, I can tell because the light from the curtains dims down quite a bit, I shouldn't waste anymore time.

YouTube's webpage loads instantly, immediately I scroll through my subscription lists, along with prowling around the website looking for unfamiliar channels as well to check to see if there's anything out of the ordinary, the bright screen illuminates half of my darkened room in the process of loading up a couple channels.

_Hmm, I don't see anyone doing anything right now; that's really good. But I have to make sure…_

I continue checking the other channels, even if it's some random kid on the internet I need to find out of anyone else had played that damn game.

Suddenly, the wind picks up even more than before; throwing itself against the building as if it wants to get inside. The light from my alarm clock flickers greatly considering I don't even have the ceiling light turned on which is usually a sign suggesting that the power will fail soon.

_Shit, this just keeps getting weirder._

Carefully, I close my laptop and place it down on the floor. No signs of anyone playing that game yet as far as I know, hopefully it stays that way for now.

I take another chocolate from the plastic tray inside the box, before stuffing it back under my bed. My brain needs some time to think about what I just walked into; I have no idea if she's still alive even…

I lay back down on my comfy bed, snuggling into my pillow and letting my eyes rest for a couple minutes. The house is completely silent which it's usually not. I better enjoy it while I can.

_I hope she's okay at least, I have no idea how I'm gonna cover for her in school tomorrow though; or whenever she gets back that is. Usually I'm not tired around this time so why am I all of a sudden? Maybe I should just try to get some rest now so that way in the morning I can double-check YouTube and see if anything popped up about the game…_

My lips curl into a smile; I like that idea of sleeping early tonight. Maybe it'll help me think clearer about what just happened.

_I seriously have no idea how to contact her without her phone; I don't even know if her phone would work in that fucked up place… Only time will tell I suppose._

My room feels weird, maybe because I'm not really used to this quiet. After all, we just moved in a couple days ago. I still have all of my stuff at my older sister's apartment a few blocks down from here too; eventually I'll have to go get it, including my cat as well. Him and Muffins don't get along well either but that's to be expected from two territorial animals that both have penises.

I can't help but feel someone's eyes watching me, like they're hanging in the corner of my room. That weird feeling most people subconsciously ignore. The best I can do is fall asleep quicker so I don't have to focus on it. After all; it's probably just my imagination.

_**The realm awaits you. **_


	4. A familiar face

_**(Mark's POV.)**_

_What the Hell happened this time? This is such a vague paracosm, an illusion almost. I remember nothing expect the mannequin's expressionless blank face. I don't even recall passing out either… Please let all of this be a dream instead, because if this is real; I know I'm not getting out of this in once piece._

My head still lies empty without hearing his voice, I want to open my eyes and take a look at my surroundings; but I'm terrified about what I might see if I do.

_~ Quit being a baby, ~_

Apparently I spoke too soon.

I release a deep sigh, I knew he wouldn't randomly disappear for no reason; all though I wish he would sometimes.

"Oh great, _you're_ back." My voice comes out hoarse and scratchy; I should try to find something to drink around here, if I can.

_Okay, get over this fear you have of seeing someone jump in your face Mark; you're getting nowhere if you're just lying down on this stiff bed._

I open my eyes slowly, my vision blurs a tiny bit but it eventually goes back to normal once again; revealing a dirty hospital room with everything in a total chaos. Comfy chairs ripped apart, equipment toppled over, the walls are cracked and some of them have holes, dried bloodstains covering the walls, and bloody handprints that appear to be dragged off to the side with the smell of fresh, decaying flesh lingering through the musky, damp air. Glancing down quickly I notice I still have everything I had with me still here, what the Hell did those things do to me?

My hands seem to look fine, I don't feel any different than I was before they caught me; so what was the point of that…? Nothing seems to make sense to me right now; I've played a lot of games that started off like this, so maybe I can at least use that to my advantage…

_There's got to be a way out of here, where did those bastards walk off to?_

I have no time to waste, they could return at any minute. Quickly I hop out of the blood stained hospital bed, it looks dry so it's definitely not my blood. Reaching down to pick up the notebook that's beside my pillow only to have it burn my fingers once again.

"Really!? Why can't you warn me?" I growl, holding my hand in pain as the book does its thing; flipping to a new page to reveal some kind of half-assed, vague hint like it always does.

_**Only the mindset of a weakling will continue to dwell these endless halls. **_

"Yeah, yeah…. That's it? Anything else that could be possibly more useful than this, like perhaps a map? I'd really like one… " I don't get a response. It was worth a shot anyways.

I just pick up the notebook and clench it tightly without any more questions; I'm clearly not going to get any answers from this thing anyways. Whatever the Hell _that_ means it probably isn't something that's going to be pleasant, or maybe I could find other people in here, which I'm beginning to doubt.

The light flickers in the hallway outside of the room, I have a very bad feeling about this; but I don't have a choice anymore. I check my phone once again, the red question marks are still there, but the screen is looking less pixelated than it was before.

_That's a good thing, right?_

I don't even know anymore, all I need to do is focus on leaving this; whatever the Hell you want to call it.

_~ Don't get lost. ~_

"You're just as helpful as the book…" I mutter to myself, taking in a deep breath; glancing around the room once again. It's oddly quiet in here; I don't hear anyone; or any_thing_ for that matter. Am I all alone? And is that even considered a_ good_ thing?

My feet echo a little bit as I walk slowly towards the entrance into the hallway; the door's been ripped off and is against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, the lights flicker wildly, wires seem to be sticking out from every direction from the ceiling, while the blood thickens along the walls and the floor. There are no signs of life anywhere, and if there was life at one point in here; there sure as Hell isn't any left.

_~ Are you afraid? ~_

"Psh, no."

Down at the end of the dark, disgusting hallway, one of the heavy security doors slam shut causing the already crumbling building to shake, and a little bit of debris rain from the ceiling above my head. Something's in here; I'm not alone.

"I change my mind…" I began whimpering a little bit in the process. The fear strikes me immensely; its one thing ending up all alone in a place like this, but when doors are randomly closing… What else is going to happen?

The voice laughs a deep, demonic laugh like he always does when he's amused. Sometimes I wonder if this is his doing.

_~ You'll be surprised. ~_

My body tells me not to walk towards the door that was recently shut at the end of the hallway, but there's no other option to walk to besides other hospital rooms which quite honestly I don't want to even consider checking out.

The lights dim instead of flickering, the power will soon be going out and I'll be screwed I just know it. My footsteps slightly echo against the disgusting floor while I make my way slowly towards the heavy metal doors. I can feel the fear eating at me, consuming me to the point where I feel like I should have never left that room despite the danger I could feel lurking inside.

_Would I ever get home again? Wade and Bob must be freaking out that I'm not responding back, and Becca; I should have replied to her when I had the chance… How many times will I admit that I did wrong to her? _

Just as I approach the metal door, I hear the agonizing screams of someone familiar; they grow louder and louder and more intense behind this door. Maybe that's why whoever shut the door did it so I couldn't listen…

I tense up automatically, my fingers clench the notebook tightly hoping that it would speak up and explain what the Hell's going on right now.

_Why can't I put a face to that voice? I know it from somewhere; I'm positive. _

Pressing my free hand against the door, I slowly take a few deep breaths. I know I'm not going to like what I'm about to see on the other side of this door; but if I want to make it out alive again and get back to the people who need me, I need to at least die trying.

_~ Well? What are you waiting for you miserable, dense cretin. ~ _

"You're really mean, you know that?"

_~ Open the door. ~_

I sigh again, every bad thought runs through my mind more than once. I couldn't bear the thought of watching those I know die in front of me. But I have to move on, for the sake of my own survival.

The door moves with some force, less than I assumed I would need considering it's a huge door. Revealing a long, fresh blood trail that turns into one of the rooms on the far left. The screams can be heard more clearly, breaking down my options to only two people that I know who sound like that.

_~ Are you prepared? ~_

"What kind of question is that? Of course I'm not!"

_~ You poor, poor child… ~_

Ignoring him, I quietly take small steps towards the room. The screaming is unbearable and the desperate pleads escalate to bloodcurdling howls.

"Please! Please I'll tell you!" The frightened voice gasps for breath after the pain seems to have stopped; my eyes widen greatly,

I can't believe it's him…

He appears to be in a bit of a bind; strapped to one of those hospital beds wearing a dirty white gown coated in blood, _his blood._ His messy light brown hair is also matted down with what appears to be his own blood as well, being tortured by two unspeakable creatures who I refuse to utter the word of what they are, standing beside him on each side.

_Zombified mannequins… Why do you exist…?_

"Yamimash…?" I whisper quietly, not loud enough to be heard, but loud enough to let it settle in to my own confused mind.

_~Aaron suffered a terrible fate, and you were supposed to be in his place first. You should feel blessed. ~_

This can't be real by this point. I know this must be a figment of my imagination; of _his _imagination, I would never wish harm on anyone that I know, so why is this happening? What the Hell is going on here?

Aaron's voice quivers, whimpering a tiny bit while an impatient foot taps against the floor in the room that I'm peeking inside of.

"I'm waiting." It growls, a menacing, mysterious dark voice sends shivers down my spine with just those two words alone. A dark energy festers around him at the floor, showing that his true powers are still waiting to be revealed.

_He doesn't look familiar, who is he?_

Whoever it was must've blended in with the dark background considering I didn't see him before at all. A tall, dark silhouette of what appears to be a man with waist-length black stringy hair and a dark, jagged cloak, I can't even get a look at his face because he has his back turned towards me, with a few zombified mannequins standing by holding tools that I don't even want to look at, followed by syringes filled with some weird looking dark substance.

"H-his n-name is Mark… M-Markiplier…" Aaron's vague voice barely has the strength to finish his sentence; he then begins to cough up blood, an excessive amount of blood while one of the zombified mannequins injects him again with the dark stuff.

_~ Don't look. ~_

"You've done well Aaron; you've served your purpose." The dark energy circles around the man with a cloudy, wispy-like haze that covers him whole; instantly vanishing into thin air without leaving a trace behind to prove that he was standing in this very room.

I can't even peel my eyes away from Aaron, huddled down to the floor peering over the corner into the room I watch as he struggles against the reaction from the dark liquid. The bloodcurdling screams start up again, along with his violent coughing. This time the blood starts pouring from not only his mouth, but his eyes and nose as well. Trying not to choke he continues to scream in agony while the zombified mannequins cackle almost, and begin to dissolve into the floor, leaving a pile of melted flesh, bone and a sickly scent that floats around the disgusting room.

_I have to try something…_

Instantly, I stand up, hurrying into the room beside Aaron as his bloody eyes glance up at me with a sense of relief and happiness. I can smell his flesh burning from the inside out, trying to force out a small smile on top of all of the pain he's going through just for the sake of assuring me.

_~ You're a damn idiot. Get out of there. ~_

"I-I'm…" He screams even louder one last time, not even getting a chance to finish his sentence. The flesh bubbles and melts away from his bones, deep inside the bed that he's lying on while his blood begins to fester all around; turning a dark blue colour and vaporizing into thin air. His remains lay still, nothing but a badly damaged skeleton with little bits of flesh, and a dirty white gown.

_What did I just witness…?_

I can't take my eyes off of the corpse that was once someone I've known, I never had a chance to meet him in person, and this was certainly not the way I had expected it to be. The stench is unbearable, it smells like melted _everything _in here mixed with death and rotting flesh. I should've looked away.

The book burns again, by now I'm getting used to it, so it doesn't bother me as much. I can't help but feel that Aaron's death was my fault…

I toss the notebook on one of the 'clean' parts of the bed; it flips open faster than it has before which is a bit strange.

_**He will not be the last to perish. **_

"Thank you for your wonderful, helpful words." The book gets offended, flashing a red ink smudge across the page and closing itself quickly. Burning with a heat so that way I can't pick it up and carry on with this twisted nightmare filled with horrors.

"Real mature; Mr. Book." I sigh, the notebook cools down a bit, enough for me to withstand holding onto it for now, unless it decides to throw another fit in protest.

_~ Watch yourself, asshat. ~_

I feel a strange presence lurking in the shadows around me, the light starts to flicker outside in the hallway; too bad that's the only light that's coming inside this dark room.

_Eventually I'm going to have to start to move, I'm tempted to use my flashlight and search around but I'd be stupid if I started to waste the batteries._

I turn around, with my back facing Aaron's remains. Walking steadily towards the entrance where it's bright once again. Suddenly, arms wrap around me from behind, pulling me back into whoever; or _what_ever that has their grip on me, I don't even have time to react let alone think; causing fear to course through my veins, striking me with the incapacity to resist the attack.

_~What did just I say? ~_


	5. What do we have here?

_**(Becca's POV.)**_

Mark cries out for a brief second, surprised I'm sure, considering I have no other way of just casually popping in; he's in a strange world, and he just watched Aaron die so, how else am I supposed to get him to calmly submit? He squirms against my grip around his waist; trying to break free and possibly chew me out for grabbing him like a crazed fan. Yet he doesn't realize the amount of noise and attention he is drawing towards us, and believe me; the boss coming up next is something you don't want to fuck around with.

_Mark; that's what I was trying to avoid, if they come because of you…_

"Quiet." The words come out of my mouth a little harsher than I had hoped for. His body tenses up automatically, the squirming stops and a deep sigh escapes his lungs. The lights begin to flicker again, whereas in this broken and diseased room the only lights we have _are_ the ones from outside. We're completely venerable for a surprise attack from anything, and we need to move; like fast. Aaron's body was stripped of its flesh, all just what he wants; modeling clay to create more monsters, and it's not going to end until he gets everything he needs to fulfill his dreams. Turning his body around quite slowly and cautiously, Mark glances down at me and smiles faintly, happy to see that I'm not one of _those _things.

_He doesn't recognize me does he…?_

My stomach churns; it would mean the world to me if he remembered who I was, we didn't really get a chance to meet in person due to me not having ways to get out to the conventions he was at, the most we did was just texting. But not only would _he _be in more danger than he's already in right now if he did recognize me; so would the rest of whoever else is in here. I can just feel it, I know there are more people in here; but the question is; how many people are trapped in this web of disasters, waiting for their demise?

His eyes eventually lock onto my arms that are wrapped around him, questioning my choice of method I suppose. I guess I didn't really think this one through, did I?

"S-sorry, it was the only thing I could think of that wouldn't catch any attention…" My arms let go of him instantly, he stands there awkwardly for a few seconds before a small faint smile spreads across his lips.

"Not a problem, after what I just witnessed it's probably a good thing you didn't just appear out of nowhere like that. Where are my manners, and you are?" He casually replies, slightly defeating the purpose of his mannerism but hey, he's probably confused and terrified right about now. I don't think I'll tell him that Aaron isn't coming back right away; he looks distraught at what he just witnessed. His eyes act like they're studying my features with a quick yet subtle expression like he remembers me from somewhere, hopefully he doesn't remember who I am and it's just my mind over thinking this.

I pull away from his gaze, avoiding the question on my name. It's for his best that he doesn't know who I am, especially in this world considering I never helped anyone out before; for all I know if he's with me he could get killed, or ambushed with higher level monsters that are supposed to stalk me… Hopefully this doesn't backfire in my face and I'm responsible for one of the most famous YouTuber's death; that'll be hard to explain to the public…

"That's not important, we need to leave. Like, right now." Without another word I head straight out the door into the broken hallway, almost slipping on one of the fresh piles of blood that trickle across the floor towards Aaron's body; clearly the liquid belongs to him still. I glance over my shoulder to make sure he's following me; that's the last thing we need is him roaming about and not watching his back if he's not careful enough.

The room is filled with a lingering, deathly scent of that damn man and his twisted little minions. For the past several months he's been hot on my trail, trying to figure out a way to trap me in here forever to join his sick little demented crew. I guess you can say I like the thrill of things, knowing the danger and the risks from entering this realm too many times; just the sheer fact of knowing that my life is on the line gives me enough satisfaction to return here daily. Sometimes I just don't know when to stop; I don't even think I can if I can't even destroy this damn disc. I did try taking a break from it, I really did. It let me with nightmares, and weird coincidences in the real world, and it was just too much to handle so I didn't have a choice; either I enter at least once a week; or be tortured by hallucinations and pending nightmares that are waiting to snatch me from my bed and drag me through the TV.

_Mark's acting a bit weirder than usual. Could be that 'game effect' Sasha was talking about earlier?_

She looks up everything, and I mean _everything_. Of course I knew what I was getting myself into when I found this game in that ancient store, I just love a good challenge. But she searched every website she could think of and hasn't found anything relating to this game, let alone the affects of it either which is what made her even more suspicious than she already was in the first place. The title changes every so often, making it damn well impossible to track down anyways so I don't see the point in even trying to keep track of it. However I am keeping notes saved somewhere about the mysteries of this shit, so that way when I've finally uncovered everything I can make a memo about this and store it online for the whole world to see. Never mind the flags I'll probably receive for some 'bullshit' made-up game; I'll have to store it somewhere like Creepypasta or r/nosleep. Yeah, I'll do that.

I follow his every movement, the amount of times his dark eyes glance back at the remains of his best friend, the way how he keeps glancing down at his dark red book that's clenched tightly between his fingers, it looks familiar; if anything he was given the demon diary to help him; as if_ he_ knew Mark would be rolling with me throughout this shitty experience. And that fidgety expression as if someone's constantly nagging him… Could it be that his head is filled with noises and whispers from the game? Or is he just genuinely insane?_ Is_ he even sane enough to survive the horrors awaiting him from here on out, I'm over thinking things again, dammit.

"So, those_ piles_ on the floor… What exactly are they?" His voice sounds a bit doubtful; he seems to be a man of logic. Aware of his surroundings, definitely not doubting what he's witnessing except the fact that one of his friends just died, and not to mention he's still lingering around in that room, not straying too far from the door entrance. I turn around again, facing him and taking note that he's observant to his surroundings, maybe he might survive after all. The piles of rotted flesh from where his minions once stood remain untouched, and looking a bit gooey. I'd question it too; if I wasn't so used to them by now.

The air grows silent around us, should I even dare to open my mouth and tell him the things I know, or should I just stay quiet and pretend like I don't know what's going on? He at least deserves _some_ kind of an answer; I bet he's terrified right about now. Besides, he already has that book so Sinister must know Mark would have met up with me almost like he planned it…

I take a deep breath, the words I'm about to say are going to get lengthy and fast. He's clueless on everything right now, so I better sum it up as best as I can.

"Sinister used this game to trap the bodies of children and adults for years. Disguising himself as titles that he knew people would want to play, every title is different for everyone; and he's known to sit among store shelves disguised as famous games during releases and waits for the unfortunate one to choose him. He then plays mind games with them, sending them on wild goose chases for nothing, sending whatever he can think of after you, he has eyes in every single corner almost; level one is a free for all so he just waits for his players to reach level two before he starts spying; hence why I'm opening my mouth right now. All for the pleasure of hunting them down, skinning them alive and feasting upon their living flesh. Using that skin, he tried to reanimate his beloved mannequins into actual people, aiming to send them out into the real world to pursuit new victims instead of doing the dirty work himself. But his 'experiment' had a flaw; you can't just slather skin onto anything and call it a human. So they ended up staying the same, with loose bits of flesh hanging off of their limbs. Wearing the skin of his victims and looking nothing like humans at all, whenever they aren't needed they melt away into the realm inside of this one, leaving their failed skin behind so they can claim another one from Sinister himself. Nowadays, he seeks amusement from people like us, sending his horrid creations out to play; in hopes of finding new toys to manipulate instead."

Mark goes completely quiet; he probably wasn't expecting me to even know the answer. Let alone he's probably imagining where Aaron's skin disappeared to, I know I am; for all I know he could show up as a mannequin or even worse. I found out from sheer luck; wandered into a basement of an old, abandoned mansion due to boredom of that level and I stumbled across his notes. Sinister wasn't too happy that I know a lot more than I show, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that's why he wants me to work with him.

"How do you know all of this?" He meets my glance, shying away a little and walking slowly towards me while I poke my head outside of the entrance into the decaying hallway, observing the hall that we have to crawl through next before we can 'complete' level one and move on with this unforgivable, nightmarish Hell.

"None of your business. Now, we need to leave."

The light down at the end of the hall near the room where they kept Mark shatters violently, exploding into a mass of glass shards; leaving a trail of inky darkness and an unsettling, menacing aura can be felt lingering around there. This is probably not going to end well…

_You've got to be kidding me._

"What was that!?" His panic settles in, causing his body to noticeably tense up and the book in his hand to burn steadily. Opening up to a random page while still being held in Mark's hands, the inky black words appear written in a rushed manner.

**Run, run as fast as you can…**

"_Now _you get a sense of humor?" Mark's whiny voice slowly turns into a dark whimper; he has that unsettling feeling too; if only he knew what was coming…

_I hope to god that if anything, playing horror games all day taught him something important._

"Quiet." I snap. The last thing I want to do is to be eaten alive by that damn thing, for all I know it's too late and Mark's squirming from before caught this thing's attention. It shouldn't be too bad, it's just a worm-like beast with several rows of jagged teeth and it's huge… But to be fair, I haven't seen any tunnels burrowed into the walls lately… Shit.

_You can't be serious can you? This is Mark's first time and you're already going to send that thing out!?_

"What's going on…?" He quietly whispers behind me, you'd think he'd know by now to shut up and be patient from his previous horror videos, edging closer towards the door and standing directly behind me, in case we have to make a run for it. What am I saying, there's no 'in case' about it; we _have_ to.

_Shit, okay, think. The levels don't change, he only increases the difficulty. So that means the door is still in the same spot…_

"Run."

Mark stares blankly at me, trying to comprehend what I'm telling him to do.

"What?"

I take a step outside in the hall; the light above us begins to flicker madly as well, just like how the first one blew out a few seconds ago.

"RUN!"

_I can't believe you're making us go through this first, you asshole._

The second we both step out from the room and into the broken hospital hallway; a hungry, viscous noise roars down at the end of the dark abyss; shaking the crumbling area and causing more debris to rain from the ceiling. A beast crossed between an oversized lizard and a wolf-like thing with no eyes and a freakishly large mouth with rows upon rows of jagged, bloody teeth. It barely manages to crawl on all fours due to its massive size, blood drips all around it with every step it takes, leaving a slippery trail for anyone who follows along behind it. Its skin starts peeling off of its flesh, leaving jagged huge holes filled with rotten flesh and maggots wriggling about inside. Dragging several 'fresh' decaying bodies on the floor that are chained to its back with hooks piercing the beast's skin, it steps out of the darkness; revealing its horrifyingly massive size; in comparison to us and the hallway.

I can tell the color drained from Mark's face, our feet pound away against the dirty tiles on the floor as we scurry over a few lobby chairs that are in the way, trying to get to the door that's all the way down at the end of this hallway. I'm not going to be happy if he changed the level layout…

"What the Hell is _that_?!" He finds his voice, panting while slamming his feet against the ground at full speed right behind me. The beast charges down the hallway, roaring with a bloodcurdling, howl. Slamming into the side of the wall on the sharp turn, causing half of the ceiling to collapse down the hallway where Mark's room was located, dazing itself for a few seconds before it starts barreling towards the two of us halfway towards the exit.

_Shit, that's a level seven boss. Why the Hell is it here on level one!?_

I slam my body against the metal door that has the red sign saying 'Exit', that leads into the 'outside world,' fumbling with the handle as the beast grows closer and closer; its massive size breaks off the crumbling walls as it sprints towards us reeking with a god awful smell and dragging the chained bodies across the floor leaving more fluids behind on the already dirty tiles. Mark tenses up, clenching my shoulder with his grip as I manage to open the door; grabbing him and hauling him outside first before turning around to grab the door handle; only to be standing face to face with the disgusting beast itself.

Its teeth are inches away from my face, opening wide and closing it again while it huffs and snarls in my direction. The revolting scent of maggots and rotting _whatever _this thing ate previously is nearly soaked into my clothes, along with bits of drool dangling from its teeth.

My eyes widen, after replaying all of these levels over and over again I've never been this close to any of the beasts in this game, will I die here…?

Everybody needs to find a weapon at sometime in this game; lucky for me during my rerun of the eighth level I stumbled across a katana sword in one of the abandoned shrines in the forest. You bet your ass I took it, and I haven't really had a chance to even _use_ it yet…

A slow, devilish smirk spreads across my lips, curling into a sneer as my hand slips inside my black coat, reaching against my waist and feeling the rough, leather handle that's fraying a bit near the blade. All it takes is one swift motion and we're home free; almost.

"Let the games begin…"


	6. Mr Flynn is acting obessive again

_**(Sasha's POV.)**_

The nagging feeling overwhelms me to open my eyes for the past few minutes, eventually I give in and do, greeting me with a horrifying close up of Muffins; standing about inches away from my face and bearing his sharp, yellow teeth with an intention to kill; almost.

"What the fuck?" I flail, shoving him off of my bed and onto the floor. The bastard growls deeply, spitting a hiss at me before taking off out of my room and down the hall to who knows where. Hopefully I don't see him for the rest of the day, and my door was closed when I came in here last night… Or I thought it was I guess, that's odd though; I've never had him that close to me before without him tearing into my flesh. Maybe he's just lonely because Becca isn't back, I don't know; that thing's evil.

With that rude wakening, I manage to sit up straight in my comfy bed, stretching my arms up into the air before letting them fall limp against the blanket. Immediately I open my laptop, checking to see if there are any updates on any gamers.

_I don't see anything here, hopefully it didn't catch on._

Eventually I just give up searching endless YouTube channels; so far nobody touched the game which is good enough for me. I click on Facebook, seeing if anyone is on, let alone checking to see if I had missed a few things from yesterday since I'm rarely on. Just the usual, a couple messages and a few notifications about nothing important to me. Might as well just scroll through my newsfeed until something interesting pops up and compels me to click it.

The usual updates on my friends, the occasional funny image here and there but other than that nothing interesting seems to be worth reading. After a minute or so I stumble across a link titled_ 'Yamimash is Dead?!' _Posted by one of the random suggested posts that are floating around, no doubt it's what I think it is.

_Please tell me it's just some conspiracy bullshit that people make up… I don't know how to react if it's beginning to happen already._

Death and I don't get along all too well; however death and Becca are like best friends considering she lives a lot of it through that fucked up game. Her horror collection alone both in movies and video games would make any horror fanatic drop dead in excitement. It just makes me queasy seeing other people die, or even just thinking about it for that matter. Not to mention whenever she re-watches her countless gore films in our living room eating handfuls of popcorn… How the _fuck_ can someone eat with all that blood flying around? Despite our polar opposites we manage to do just fine on our own, sometimes we need a day or two to ourselves but that's just like any other roommate.

After skimming through the article, everything seems to be quite real, and just my luck; in detail on how they found him, and they even have pictures. _Wonderful._ At the bottom there's a few more links to different articles on the same incident, I'm not even going to bother searching through all of them considering its true. I just can't believe how they found him…

"_Aaron Ash was discovered by his girlfriend whose name shall not be revealed, around 6:21am, the body seemed to be burnt to a crisp surrounded by charred outlines with a nonsensical language imprinted in the bed sheets."_

That's all I needed to read, there's no way anyone will find the killer; because there is no killer. He must have died in the game, but he didn't post a video of it at all… Maybe he decided to test it out first to see if he'd like it. Either way; it cost him his life and now the horror truly begins.

Clicking open a new tab on the screen, I search for Yamimash's channel again, going through his uploads to see if he did post a video since I've been asleep for the past several hours. But as I said before, there is no video of him playing this game.

_I see nothing; I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I can't just message all of the YouTubers and be like "hey yeah, don't play that game." They won't listen, and if anything it'll just peak their curiosity even more. Especially that video Markiplier put out, maybe that's what whoever's running the show is doing to promote his game; so people would want to buy it and see what happened to Mark._

Stressed, I give up; I can't really do anything other than monitor what the fuck's happening and try to warn people in the comments. Shutting the laptop down and closing the screen, I manage to pull myself out of bed. He must have played it on his off time to see if it was video worthy, that's the only other explanation I have for this one. Immediately I jump out of bed and begin to head into the kitchen, no sign of Muffins anywhere after he scared the shit out of me.

_That creepy thing better return to the pits of Hell where it belongs, or at least don't show up around me._

I grab some cereal from the cupboards in the kitchen, considering we're all out of everything else because you know, college students are broke around this time of year. Carefully pouring a nice, big bowl and sitting down at the couch in the living room. Casually I start flicking through some channels that can help me kill some time before I have to head to class in a few hours. As much as I don't want to go, I don't have a choice. Not to mention with the freaky events going on in here; I don't want to be inside this apartment for much longer anyways.

My mind zones out to the people at our college, we have a few friends that we've known since High School and Jr. High that also go here as well. We have about two of them living in the same apartment and one of them is next door. Not to mention the professors. Oh boy, where to begin… One of them is really cute but he throws himself at Becca a lot, I guess they knew each other back in High School not that she would be into that. I know her, the only reason why she puts up with him is because he's a huge gamer too and they get along more so online than in person. The others, they're stricter, and not as laid back as he is. Especially mine; she's a total bitch.

_I swear if Mr. Flynn asks about her whereabouts one more time I'm going to snap._

Usually whenever he doesn't see her, he loses the entire ability to function almost; he plays it cool when he notices she isn't here, but in reality he's breaking down inside his head which is beyond creepy. I get it that they're trying to be friends, I mean she's used to dealing with people in their late twenties to however age people range to on World of Warcraft but when you're obsessing over a student; please draw the line somewhere.

After flicking through what feels like an endless amount of channels I decided to settle for the news. When in doubt, figure out what's going on in the world. Nothing surprises me on the news anymore either; a plane crash, a couple surreal storms here and there, missing people, nothing new really. I know they must be doing a segment on Aaron's death; the other news casts are, and it makes sense considering everyone has to cover the same situation if they want to get anywhere.

The day moves by pretty quickly, I left the curtains closed in the living room so it's hard for me to tell quite exactly what time it is. I like my rooms nice and dark, not to mention cold as well.

Before I know it, I'm down to about an hour for killing time before I have to walk a good twenty minutes to class. I hate that feeling, when you think it's earlier than what the actual time is and you get a slight feeling of depression sinking in before you learn to accept the fact that it's currently the correct time and you were just fooling yourself. Man, I hate that feeling.

_Maybe I should head up early, and see who else is there roaming the halls. And check to see if the bitch isn't here; I hope she isn't._

A deep argument takes forth inside my brain, battling the lazy side of me to make an effort to get up and actually spend time with some friends. After all; could be what I need right now to get my mind off of this considering I can't exactly tell people about what's going on, they'll think I'm crazy and it's the whole reason why I need to come up with a bullshit excuse as to why Becca isn't here this time.

Without any other obligations, I set my dishes in the sink, rinsing out the bowl of course, and then throwing on my clothes afterwards. The silence is what scares me the most, on my way out the door I glance into Becca's room; the TV is still bright white and it'll probably stay like that until she returns. As for her demon cat, no sign of him in here at all, hopefully he's hiding under the bed. Oddly enough I don't hear the demon cat anywhere let alone see him; hopefully he's asleep under her bed. Things can't possibly get anymore worse than it already is right now; I just wish this game could be destroyed so we can get on with our lives.

The second I step outside, the cool sea breeze greets my skin with a refreshing scent and feels nice in the late morning, the scent lingers in the air mostly until the afternoon, and then the smell of sweat quickly fills its place as disgusting as that is. People walk the sidewalk casually, without glancing in my direction at all, a few cars pass by as well, and for some reason I still can't shake that mental image I had last night about this very spot being a river with a girl chained to the bottom of it.

_I can't shake that feeling, the feeling that something terrible will happen to her soon. I know, she always comes back; but this time, I feel that it's going to be different and I'm worried. Not to mention the river that was here last night, I'm still deciding on if that was a hallucination or not._

My eyes gaze down at the sidewalk as I make my way towards the college that I can just barely see over the huge hill, we couldn't get a lease any closer to the apartment because they were already rented out the second registration was settled in. Sucks I know, but hey; it's a reason to exercise, or be even lazier and not go, but the only people we're hurting is ourselves considering we're paying for this, not the government.

The sun's actually shining today, which is a first considering the weather always changing and it's usually cloudy, or it rains nonstop. There's no in-between; our weather pattern reminds me of London. Nothing you can really about that, but the sudden nice change in the weather feels absolutely amazing right now.

The second I turn the corner towards the entrance of the college, Mr. Flynn can be seen parking his shitty car at the far end of the parking lot and taking a step out. I will admit, he is good looking, which is probably why Becca doesn't complain about it to anyone, the look in his eyes say it all when he sees me walking by myself into the college; he better not fucking stop me in the hallway and ask me where she is again for the umpteenth time.

I make my way through the doors of the good looking place, the building looks like shit on the outside but the second you enter; it's like a cathedral minus the religious art and benches. There's a dual staircase leading to the second floor along with a window that's about three levels tall overlooking the ocean, it's quite beautiful when the sun shines through the water and illuminates with a blinding affect. I gaze around, trying to recognize anyone else that I usually hang out with but so far I don't see anyone I know yet.

I guess I wasted my time coming here early, I left my laptop behind too so I can't really dip off to the library and continue checking YouTube or the news websites.

Just as I'm about to turn around and head back down the stairs to the main floor, Mr. Flynn stops half way up the stairs, he flashes a quick bullshit smile at me as if he's trying to avert his attention away from the empty space lingering beside me where Becca usually is.

"And how are you today, Sasha?"

"Fine?" I try to not sound rude usually but hey, when you have a thing for my friend; sorry, not sorry.

His eyes continue to jump to the empty space beside me and holding eye contact with me as he's just about to open his mouth to ask the question that we already know by now.

"She's sick." Impatiently I answer his unasked question almost instantly. He tenses up a little, gripping his shoulder bag and trying to avoid my piercing eyes once again. I think he knows I know.

"I was going to ask why you are here so early, but thank you for the update." And with that he scurries up the steps and vanishes down the hall, he's so predictable that it's almost hilarious actually. Every single day if she isn't here he always manages to find me and asks me if she's here, and every single day my answer will never change; it's none of his business anyways.

I let out a deep sigh, just once I wish I could make it around the school on my own without running into him. It's bad enough to watch him horribly flirt with her out in the open but it's another to even be caught in an awkward standoff with him alone.

_I might as well just head to my class, either that or stop off at the library in one last attempt to find someone I know._

Eventually I give in, and start heading back down the stairs and down the hall towards the library. My class doesn't start in half an hour so I'll kill some time there by either talking to friends, or just using one of their school computers to see if anyone else had suffered the same fate as Yamimash. I really hope no one did but, with Markiplier's video running freely out in the open plains of the internet; I'm sure some curious people will attempt to find the game one way or another.


	7. The mysterious forest is mysterious

_**(Mark's POV.)**_

The blade slices through the monster's head like butter, ripping open its colossal jaw with bits of its flesh still trying to cling together to the missing side, and splitting it in two with a massive amount of rotting blood leaking everywhere; sending the beast whimpering back into the shadowy darkness behind us. For something that huge, it sure was terrified of her.

The girl sneers, gazing down at the rotting blood pile that the beast left behind on the tiles, she almost seems like she's hypnotized by it almost, deep in a thought of some sort.

_~ Kill her, now. ~_

"No!" Without thinking I holler out loud, the girl turns around giving me a really strange and highly confused look as she walks towards me, wiping her blade on the edge of her black coat and meeting my gaze with her soft blue eyes.

_~ Kill her you dense idiot, before she kills us. ~_

"'No' what?" She questions me greatly, I take a step back holding her piercing glare, whoever she is; she sure can be scary when she wants to be.

"Uhh, nothing, it was random, I'm sorry." Quickly I cover myself; I need to be more careful for any more slipups like that because if she finds out, I don't even _want _to think about what she would do. But why does he want me to kill her? She saved us, plus I feel like I should know her from somewhere; but I swear I never met her before in my entire life.

The backdrop of wherever we are changes instantly, from being inside a creepy, disgusting hospital; to being outside in a nice, dark forest around night time. There's a little path that clearly leads a long ways away through the trees with small, Japanese-like torches to light the way. There's a massive amount of hills and bushes, and occasionally I catch a glimpse of reflecting glowing eyes hidden between the trees. The hospital building is still behind us, but I doubt we're going back there anytime soon; if not at all.

Her eyes narrow at me greatly, reflecting the torch's flames deep inside her pupils; illuminating her crystal colored eyes. She then moves towards me, patting my shoulder gently and turns around from the door we just closed to face the endless forest trail behind us.

"Whatever you say, Mark." She slyly smirks at me, walking down the trail and gazing around as if she's waiting for something to jump out and attack us. She then disappears over the bend, with her black coat fluttering along behind her.

_How did she know my name…?_

I just stand there for a few seconds, I just met her how could she possibly know who I am unless she's a fan of mine and put two and two together. I was recording a playthough of this game; or I was _trying to_ at least. I don't know what happened at all, there was a white light and then I was in that room with the book. Maybe I can ask her sometime; certainly not now considering the tracks I just found… But it's good to keep her in mind; after all she did save me.

"Hey, wait up." I quickly pick up my pace at this sudden change of scenery, my mindset is still logged into the whole abandoned, disgusting hospital so it's taking a bit of time to get used to. I haven't felt the book burn yet at all so it must be content with this girl; whereas _he_ on the other hand, doesn't seem to like her too much. The forest is beautiful but dark and mysterious; my own eyes catch a glimpse of a few moving orbs off in the distance, yet there's nothing but the sound of the rustling leaves from the gentle breeze and the steady noise of an owl nearby. I never really questioned the sudden owl noise, maybe I probably should considering everything so far looks deadly and dangerous in this place.

My eyes gaze down at the dirt covered forest floor as we silently move along the path. I can't really see all that well since none of us have a torch and the ones that light the path are only good enough to be aware of our surroundings and not small detail; but I can make the imprints of human footprints, along with a track of beast prints as well.

_Should I say something to her? Maybe she already knows and she isn't talking because of what she told me earlier… ?_

If he really does have eyes everywhere then I shouldn't bother putting anything at risk, even if I open my mouth and mention something I'm not supposed to I could potentially kill the both of us and I don't want to do that, I saw what they did to Aaron; and something also tells me that he's gone for good too.

I've played enough forest games to know what could happen; a demon hiding among the shadows of the trees, scary ghosts that like to play tricks, anything really; from being chased, to collecting objects such as papers. But I just can't shake the feeling that this forest has something mystical about it, not to mention that owl noise didn't really sound like an owl after thinking about it…

The stars invade the sky from the spots near the tree tops with less leaves, I can see the clear colors of the wispy green lines that blend in with the twinkling white dots and the inky darkness. I've never seen something so simple yet beautiful before; I didn't even know it was possible.

The sky doesn't look like any sky I've ever seen; it looks too fantasy-like tome at least. None the less it's still pretty and beautiful to gaze at, but I need to focus on what's around me and I can't be distracted by things anymore.

She swiftly moves silently along the trail; even her shoes aren't making a noise against the dirt and tiny rocks, I'm a bit far behind her and I don't think she notices that. Her eyes do scan across the trees every once and a while, and I know she noticed the orbs and the reflections off in the distance as well. The path suddenly gains a few wooden boards here and there for the steeper inclines that lie ahead of us as we trudge up the hill covered in an endless sea of trees and bushes, I'm amazed nothing jumped out at us yet; we're out in the open and we're venerable… I should probably shut up now before I jinx it.

_~ You need to break away from her, now. ~_

"Why? There's nothing wrong." The words yet again escape my mouth and without thinking I glance up at her in the distance, hoping she didn't hear what I said. Not to mention I hope anything else in here didn't hear me either.

_Shit, I need to control that, I can't just open my mouth whenever. I'm not in front of a camera; if I make noise we could die._

_~ For now there isn't. ~_

I don't get what his deal is, ever since she came into the picture he's been angry and demanding me to either kill her or to take off. First off; what the _Hell_ do I even kill her with? She has a sword! And if I take off, what happens if I get caught again like that… _Thing _did back there to us? We didn't die because _she_ killed it. I would never kill anyone who didn't do any harm to me, even if they did harm I don't think I _could_ kill them to be honest.

I have a strange feeling like we're being watched, like his eyes are lingering over my shoulders, or peering through my vision to see where I am. Immediately I catch up to her, for some reason I feel safer around her; probably because she has a sword, but I'm just guessing here. I manage to stay right behind her while she keeps her hand on her blade's handle and scans across the dark forest as if she too has the same feeling.

"You need to be careful." She quietly scolds me like a child, as if she heard the words that accidentally escaped my lips from before._ I_ need to be careful? What about her!? Well, to be fair she hasn't made a noise yet, maybe I do need to collect myself and calm down. Not to mention find a weapon like she did; boy did she get lucky stumbling across that thing.

The forest grows quiet; the wind stops blowing through the leaves and the tall grass, and the orbs begin to drift off into the darkness around us. The torches manage to still stay burning, perhaps they're enchanted or something; I don't know, I'm just sprouting bullshit logic now to keep me from going even more insane than I already am.

She stops instantly in her tracks, causing me to slightly bump into her back while she raises her hand in a swift, quiet motion; signaling me to stop whatever it is that I'm doing or about to do. Instantly the blade slides out beneath her coat and is out in the open, something must have caught her attention and something tells me that it isn't good. The remaining orbs that float by reflect a strange light that bounce off of the metal and causing a few howling noises nearby, almost like this forest is full of wolves and other creatures that could eat us alive. As long as there's no more rotting lizard beasts then I'm okay.

"We need to be careful from here on out." Her sentences are short but they get straight to the point. She walks swiftly with the tip of her blade just grazing the dirt below our feet; getting ready to slice through the first thing that jumps out at us I assume.

_She isn't messing around; I don't know if I should be glad that she found me first before that beast did or if I unintentionally put myself in an even more dangerous spot to begin with._

We silently trudge through the overgrown forest without any words being exchanged between us in fear of being either ambushed or caught by whatever made that noise. I guess she was right about whatever his name was having eyes in all of the levels except the first one, maybe he's getting ready to send out something to play with us.

Her eyes glaze over the trees, suddenly we're ambushed by a strange scent that makes its way through the dead air; it smells_ far_ from the fresh outdoors, and something that was rotting for centuries in an enclosed space.

"Undead." The words barely leave her lips, just loud enough for me to know what exactly the scent is. Her eyes then return back to mine, occasionally gazing off in the distance.

"There's a crypt nearby, we need to avoid it." She adds cautiously, turning her full attention off into the distance to see if she can spot the ancient landmark nearby.

_A crypt, out here? Wouldn't this path lead directly into it though?_

Right on cue, the book begins to emit heat against my skin under my arm, I quickly hold it out in my palms and let the book do the rest while her eyes turn to the little red book.

_**Don't make any wrong decisions. Listen to your instinct.**_

"Well, that sounds helpful for once." The book then closes itself and cools down, I guess it's helpful in some way; it gives me a heads up and also helpful hints. Surely enough this girl already knows about them; that's still a bit odd as to why I would have the book instead of her though.

I turn to gaze over at the mysterious girl who nods her head in agreement, still not really speaking a word in fear of whatever's lurking around would catch on.

_~ I told you. She's plotting something vile. ~_

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue?" I joke; her eyes just dig into mine with knives almost, shutting me up instantly while she carries on her way down the path where the flames suddenly begin to flicker a bit.

_Jeez, tough crowd…_

I guess she does have some reasons as to why she's quiet; after all she did say he has eyes in every corner. Maybe she's not allowed to help people? I should have asked when I had the chance. But for now, I better shut up and just stick her like glue, despite what _he_ says about her I think she's nice; in her own, unique way.

As we make our way through the dense forest, the howling noises begin to sound clearer, either we're getting closer to it; or they're coming closer to us. She grips her blade tightly in return, trudging on forwards against the dirt path towards the noise completely not aware of what's behind us.

_~ Remember what the book said. ~_

My eyes peel away from her carefully while they roam around the beautiful forest once again, instantly a shadowy figure that's clearly five times the size of me greets me on all fours, with menacing glowing red eyes and what appears to be rough, bristled fur sticking out pounces on top of me; knocking me clean out of my senses and roughly onto the ground.

Instantly the girl flings around, I can't tell what she's witnessing underneath all of this fur that's on top of me; but I don't feel any pain or anything sinking into my flesh for that matter. My senses dull down extremely low, and my vision turns hazy and white almost, the last thing I hear is the sound of metal stinging flesh nearby, and a low cry from a human.


	8. Nice doggy

_**(Becca's POV.)**_

The Lycanthrope let's out another human-like screech as I pull my blade away with a sickening metal ripping into flesh noise, I must have done _some _damage considering I felt its skin break against the pressure I applied. Of course without any hesitation; the glowing eyes return to the forest once again. The glowing shine reminds me that after what I just did; there's no way we'll survive an onslaught from all of them.

_Shit, I should have waited at least; but that thing pounced on Mark by surprise; I wonder why if it wasn't planning on hurting us._

The others that follow along behind the beast stay silent, with their glowing eyes lighting up the forest off of the path into the distance between the dark trees and bushes. Mark gazes up at the Lycanthrope's face with a stunning expression; considering the beast itself is still hunched over his body, and didn't move a muscle at all.

Mark stammers under the pressure of having teeth that sharp inches away from his face, the steam from its breath instantly fogs up his glasses while it's red eyes slowly fade into blue and pierce through his; leaving more silence between all of us surrounding the incident.

I've never witnessed a creation like this manage to not rip apart someone living before, this is honestly the first time where I'm genuinely confused as to what the fuck's going on. The beast's eyes are locked onto Mark's; it's almost as if he knows him personally or something.

Eventually, the massive grey bundle of fur peels itself off of Mark, who still lays there on the ground covered in dirt but surprisingly no blood; from him. However, the beast itself suffers from a long gash on the side of its ribcage that shows a little flesh from the inside, whimpering a tiny bit.

I grip my blade tightly, holding it against my side while the metal reflects the light from the nearby torch on the path. Everything inside me is telling me to watch the eyes of the pack that has us surrounded. The sudden breeze picks up beneath the trees and rustles not only the leaves and the grass; but also thickens the coldness this area already has to offer, sending a chill straight down my spine.

_Why is it getting colder in here? We're in the forest section, not the snowy one yet. A lot of strange events are happening that normally wouldn't be ever since I found Mark; this could be a bad thing._

Immediately without any warning, the Lycanthrope begins to dissolve inside its pile of fur, shrinking from its astonishing, massive size down into the size of a normal human being. Of course the human checks the wound on his side, wincing in pain while the blood leaks from the open wound. Mark sits there on the ground in shock, rubbing his eyes a little in awe while the male figure appears from the fur, wearing a circled mask with two black dots for eyes and a line for a mouth, along with clothes made of the same grey fur from the Lycanthrope he just once was.

My mouth drops to the ground, I almost lose my grip on the blade; almost sending it shattering to the dirt below. Quickly I slide my weapon back under my coat, still keeping an eye on the glowing eyes around us who haven't even made an attempt to slaughter us yet.

_Cry's in here too…? Is Sasha even doing anything in the real world to stop these people or not? There's no way for me to go back unless I ditch Mark and do a speed run, which I certainly won't._

Mark stumbles around a bit, stilling trying to find some words to say to his internet friend while holding his head for a long time before prying himself up off of the ground, dusting himself off while staring at Cryaotic with a content expression across his face.

"Hello friends; Mark, and sword lady." Cryaotic extends his hand out towards Mark; touching his shoulder and gazing deep into his eyes; I think. It's quite hard to tell what he's staring at behind that mask to be quite honest.

A smile spreads across Mark's face; I know he barely met any of these people in person before so honestly all though it's a bad thing that we're all in here; it's also a good thing as well if you think about it. Honestly he's only met some of these people through Skype, so this is like a combination of excitement and fear festering inside of him at the same time.

"What are you doing here…?" Mark eventually finds the words that he's looking for, gazing up at his friend with yet again another smile. I don't blame him, considering Yamimash died a horrible death; let's hope that Cryaotic won't suffer the same fate. I'm assuming he won't, based on his little wolf pack but; one question that boggles me is how the _fuck_ did he manage to turn into a Lycanthrope in the first place? I had no idea it was possible.

Cry's always been a strange guy, from his YouTube channel in general and even in person by the looks of it. I wouldn't know; personally I've never met the guy; I don't really think that anyone has. He's quite shy and would rather his fans not knowing who he really is; hence the mask and to be honest I don't really blame him, YouTuber's are almost equal to celebrities in some way, and the minimal contact with people; the happier you'll be, at least for me anyways.

I can't tell what he's feeling in general, he has no facial expressions that I can see at least, and his body language is a bit off; but to be fair, he _is_ a Lycanthrope. Mark's eyes dart between the two of us, unable to understand what's happening and continuously looking at me for any helpful hints since the notebook isn't doing its job, while Cryaotic's group of Lycanthrope's settle down and step out of the shadows, revealing a range of dark colors among them and emitting a rather protective vibe that surrounds all of us now instead of just Cryaotic himself.

"Are there any more gamers in here, we've only came across-" Mark slowly trails off his sentence, gazing down at the dirt path while his eyes narrow a bit. He's still upset about Yamimash's death, and I don't blame him one bit. He witnessed one of his good friends turn into mush, and not to mention it wouldn't surprise me if Sinister used his skin to inflict emotional trauma on the poor guy as well.

There honestly was nothing we could do to save him at that point; I _still_ don't know what the Hell they use in that syringe to even make people's bodies react that way… I wonder if people noticed his death in the real world, surely it's floating around somewhere. I really wish I could contact Sasha so she can figure out what's going on and stop anybody else before they get in here.

Cryaotic goes silent, matching the same pitch of this dark forest while his mask turns around to look at his pack behind him. He has a small black strap hiding among his medium length brown hair. Honestly I do feel the temptation to just reach over and undo the strap; but that's just my curiosity hopefully, I hope there isn't some strange thing going on, I don't want to ruin his identity let alone crush his soul in the process.

The temptation is just so real right now, it's almost as if something _wants_ me to pull it off quickly. But why though? I follow him as well in my subscriptions list back at home; so I know why he has it, I just can't believe the overwhelming urge that I've never gotten before to take a peek… This _has_ to be Sinister's doing, it just _has_ to be; the urge is so powerful.

"I suppose, if I ran into you two. I don't know how many are in here though." He turns around to face us with that mask's content facial expression, my fingers witch at my sides; fighting back the urge that suddenly sweeps my mind and plunges any other thoughts out of the way. Yet again I'm unable to tell where he stands with me; with him and Mark he seems to be fine, but he hasn't really spoken a word to me yet.

He bends down to pick up one of the lit torches on the path, scowling in pain once again while the wound continues to pour out on the dirt below, beckoning us both to follow him deep inside the forest, while his pack closes behind us cautiously, forming a protective wall against the three of us and whatever the fuck's out in here as well because I _know_ we aren't alone, it's been far too long since that lizard thing, so I know damn well he's going to start some shit here in a minute.

"I'll take you back to our den, I could explain more back there if you like; I just prefer being closed off than out in the open." His voice is soothing, not to mention quite relaxing as well. It's hard for me to match the sincerity in his voice though, but he hasn't caused us any problems this far so I guess he should be alright, just in case I still have my blade, so if anything goes downhill… I'd at least take a few of them with me.

We trudge along through the bushes and tall grass here and there, breaking away from the path and leaving us stranded inside the forest to fend for ourselves. The glow from the torches on the path slowly vanishes away into nothing while the light orbs begin to float around endlessly among the leaves on the trees, almost like they're following us.

My eyes gaze up above my head, noticing a few of the orbs are actually sticking to us like glue. I was always curious about them considering I was never around here for too long, their centers seem to be a glowing white while the outer wisps fade into a light green; as they move gently through the still air they leave a small trail of a glittering green essence that eventually vanishes with each moving step we take.

_These orbs, they certainly can't be a part of Sinister's doing; can they? I mean, they're just forest orbs, they're green so they represent nature, if it was another color I'd be worried. I still am worrying mind you, just as much as I would be if it were a different color. _

The scent lingers in the air once again, almost as if it caught a whiff of us and started to follow us around. I don't see the crypt anywhere near us; so it's clear to me that something's up and walking with us… Eventually, we approach the den Cryaotic is talking about without any issues; I noticed that the Lycanthropes also picked up on the scent as they were all quiet for once. There's a huge hole on the cliff side, covered in boulders and moss, the gaping entrance seems to be holding a lot of space considering it seems to extend really far back inside the cliff. There's also a small circle in front of the entrance, with charred wood and smaller rocks surrounding it, with fallen logs everywhere and bones from previous meals; all while being shrouded underneath the trees and bushes.

Those bones make me a little uneasy; it could have been awhile before these creatures have had a meal. I don't want to be put in that situation at all, considering the whole _'once you die, you don't come back'_ thing.

My eyes widen a little, Cryaotic knows I've noticed the bones; along with Mark who seems like he's a little uneasy as well. Cryaotic picks up one of the clean skulls; it's not shaped as a human at all, if anything it's more of a boar.

"No humans in here, or else I wouldn't be alive." He assures us, tossing the skull back on the ground with a crunching noise as it hits the grass while we continue to slowly move towards the entrance. The forest orbs decided to not stick around after all; considering there's none floating around here almost as if they never existed at all to be honest. All of this is making me uneasy, I have a deep pit in my stomach warning me about something; but what I don't get is how come the book hasn't said anything to Mark yet?

I never really explored this level that much before; considering I didn't think there was much to it, let alone the whole death scent that lingers around here was enough to not make me want to stick around in the previous playthroughs. Personally I thought it was only a path from the hospital to the other section in the game, maybe we should explore here a little more in a bit.

Cryaotic lets us go in the entrance first; he then takes the torch that he's holding and lights up the few torches that outline the mouth of the cave, leaving a damp orange glow that fades into darkness near the back of the cave. There aren't really any comfy sleeping spots as far as I can see, there are a few flat surfaces that are a little bit higher than the main level. Eventually the rest of his pack settles in behind us, lying down against the cave's entrances shielded by rocks to protect them against the elements this forest is capable of having; not to mention I think they protect the cave's entrance during the night.

Mark flashes me a quick grin, taking a seat on the cold rock floor while patting the spot next to him, indicating that he wants me to sit down as well. His facial expression lets me know that the floor's colder than it feels against my shoes; it's going to be a _long_ night.

Cautiously, I take a seat next to him while Cryaotic places himself in front of us with a content expression across his mask face, my blade clatters against the stone floor; not making a noticeably loud sound, but loud enough to be shot dirty looks from the other Lycanthropes.

_I guess they don't trust me as much as they trust Mark, hopefully if things go downhill he'll save me like I've saved him. _

"I'm sure there's a lot of questions needed to be asked, Sinister can't find us in here so ask away." He stretches out his legs across the floor, turning his head back to face his pack who lightly howl against the dark night towards the patch in the sky containing the stars and the moon. Off in the distance outside of the cave I can see figures moving about, my skin crawls uneasily whereas I have a bad feeling about whatever's lurking over there by the edge of the forest.

I already know the game stimulates night time and day time linked up with the biological clock inside all of us, you do get tired after staying awake for a set amount of time; however, that's what makes you venerable towards everything; especially if you're a heavy sleeper. So of course it's only natural for him to play on that feeling of slowness and trying his best to lull you to sleep. I haven't taken a nap at all since yesterday in the real world; and I still haven't managed to figure out the time differences from this realm, to the real world but to be fair, I never slept that much to begin with; I don't know about Mark on the other hand.

Mark glances at me first, he must have taken note how shocked I was that people in here can turn into creatures and not kill you. He then casually takes out his phone to check and see if it's still pixilated; which it probably is, Sinister likes to manipulate electronics; he doesn't use them to spy on people and to see where they are, because to him that takes out the fun in finding them.

"How did they accept you as one of them?" I stare into the black dots on his mask; trying to figure out what exactly he's thinking, but it's really hard to considering I can't see his face. He sits there without moving a muscle, it almost makes me a little uneasy gazing into the mask on his face, and oddly enough the temptation to take it off is only when he looks away and reveals the black strap.

"I'm glad you asked that; you see I really don't know the answer to that one as well. I was stumbling around here after the mishap with the_, tunnels_ in the hospital and I ended up in here. I found a crypt just a few miles away from this den actually, and before I could enter it I was stopped by this pack. I thought they'd eat me because everything else in this world wants to; but they didn't. They bit me so I could be one of them and that was that." His voice fills the quiet cave with a lingering sensation. I could honestly listen to him talk all day without any complaining.

Mark stretches himself out as well, looking around the cave for anything that could be used as a pillow or something. He eventually comes to the terms on not having anything comfy enough and rests his head against the cold stone floor.

"The crypts seem to open and close by themselves lately, I don't know what it means really; I've only been here for a few days, I think." His eyes shift from Mark who's trying to get some rest towards me in an attempt to keep the conversation going. I guess Mark's actions answered my question I had before on if he sleeps really or not.

"How come you haven't passed out, sword lady?" His curious voice asks me with an incline to know more about who I am, if I can't let Mark know who I am then I can't let Cryaotic know either; in the fear of throwing him in danger as well.

"I, I'm used to staying up all hours of the night." I quickly take my eyes off of the cave's entrance in fear of being spotted by whatever's lurking out there in the forest. The Lycanthropes do take note of what's happening outside but they clearly don't pay much attention.

"Very well, I see your eyes drifting to the forest out there; I've noticed them too my first night but they don't approach this cave at all. They just stand there, staring. Creepy; I know, but they aren't causing harm to us." He winces in pain at the end of his sentence, gasping his side where the fresh wound is that I created; I should probably apologize, it was on instinct to slice him like that.

"Yeah, sorry about that…" I began, gazing at the wound on his side as well while he laughs a tiny bit; tightening the fur clothes against the wound so it doesn't begin to flow.

"I deserved it, I startled you without thinking of the possibilities; like you owning that sword." He casually shifts his weight towards the other side of his body, lying down against the cold floor as well while watching Mark pass out rather quickly.

_I don't know if I can sleep with those things lurking around outside, I guess I have nothing to worry about considering there's over a dozen of us here and what looks to be about a couple of them out there; I think we should be save tonight._

"If that's all, we could finish this conversation tomorrow when Mark wakes up; if that's alright with you." Cryaotic yarns underneath his content mask, stretching his arms up in the air before letting out a small whimper in pain, he then curls up on his good side facing away from us and towards his other pack who curled up around the front of the entrance for protection; in case the figures do decide to show up some time throughout the night.

My eyes feel heavy as well, I will admit it's been a long, eventful day and I could use some rest. Carefully I lean on the side that doesn't have my blade attached to it and lay my arms down on the cold floor to use as a pillow. Mark's body is just a few inches away from mine, his face is just a bit further away but his legs touch mine while he breathes in deeply, as long as I can keep a few of these people safe and return them to the real world; we should be okay. But for now, I need to gather my strength until we can find Mark a weapon to use so that way I'm not the only one putting my ass on the line to save us.


End file.
